The Crystals of an Ended World
by Cahira Arjaeis
Summary: A girl discovers rings which transport her to a green wood, where she meets a boy who is searching for something. They go together through a pool, to...
1. Intro

_If you have never read the amazing series: the Chronicles of Narnia, I suggest you do so without hesitation before coming to this book. Then, by all means, you may come back here._

_C.S. Lewis, I assume you would agree, is by far the most classic, the most ever-enduring writer of Christian allegorical literature, in these stories (the Narnian Chronicles), and they cannot be forgotten. So many of the concepts and ideas that he presents within the tales are so vivid and thought provoking that I cannot help borrow a few. So you may recognize characters, situations, and places from a series dear to my heart. Remember, I respect Lewis, and wish you to understand that his writing inspired this, though I do want the tale to be treated as my property, as the great majority of it is original and self-invented, such as the characters you may not recognize. I would greatly appreciate it if you ask for my permission before using them in anything._

_Now, that I have babbled to you for so long, perhaps we can get on with the story – _

A tale inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia-

THE CRYSTALS OF AN ENDED WORLD 


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

London, Europe, was a fine place to vacation, even if it meant having to meet many elderly people that she would rather not.

Mother had so many relations from her past days as a traveling journalist that she could not help but want to meet a thousand people over again, and her lonely daughter had nothing better to do (or so she thought) during that summer.

"There was this time," her mother, or Mrs. Bly, said as they walked past a fine-looking railway station, "long ago, that a horrible train wreck killed – hmm, let me see – nearly a whole family, the father, mother, two sons, a daughter, a cousin, a friend, _and _an elderly man and woman, and an old professor - family friends, I think – which makes ten!– right at this station."

"Did they redo it? It looks too new," Alexandra asked her mother, staring at the shiny paint. She waited for her mother's British accented voice to clearly tell her the answer to her question.

"Oh yes," her mother replied. "The whole front of the train slipped right off of the tracks, killed the two boys who were waiting at the front of the platform, and jolted the family, who were in the front. Terrible, terrible. The whole side of the platform and much of the train was destroyed. But isn't it odd - the conductor didn't die! All the rest were only wounded. I made sure to mention that in my report."

"The _whole family - _just died?" Alex asked, horrified.

"Well, they had a sister, who wasn't with them. Oh, she must have been heart broken! I visited her once, actually -Somewhat on mistake, you see- but, she was a gorgeous girl. I can't remember what she did. Maybe… no, I don't know if she did work. I can't remember… But I would like to talk to her again. Find out what has become of her. She was such a lonely girl, after that."

There was quiet as the two walked further down the old street.

Mrs. Bly raised her hand to signal for the cab, and then they both got into the first one that stopped.

The ride was quiet. Alexandra was watching the old houses that the cab passed in silent wonder. She had read the _Chronicles of Narnia,_ some time back,and thought, from what she remembered, that they looked like the kind of places that the children from those tales might have lived in. She wished for a moment that she could see her own home, back in America, and her cat and her things. London was very different, and though her mother was at home here, she was not. She wondered how long, also, they would be out, before they could go back to their hotel and she could sort her luggage and relax.

They hadn't gone far on the long, old streets, when the cab pulled aside to one of the dingy houses, and mother paid the driver, and then got out.

"Whose house is this?" Alex asked.

"The girl from the family of the train wreck," her mother said, nodding and walking up the small stone steps, to knock on the door. Alex followed shyly behind. She could think of many more questions to ask now, but it seemed too late for them. She did not want to be speaking when someone opened the door, and have them hear something she might not want to be overheard saying.

She stayed behind her mother, waiting for the wooden door to swing aside. But it didn't.

Mrs. Bly knocked again.

Finally they heard a shuffling noise, and the door swung open.

"Sorry, all empty!" the man tried to say, but Mrs. Bly caught the door and pulled it back before he could close it.

"What do you mean by 'all empty'?" she demanded.

"I'm cleaning the lady's mess. I daresay she left a lot of filth!" he said, and once more tried to abandon the scene.

"Why, where is she?" Mrs. Bly said loudly, as if in charge of the situation. He paused, then stepped more softly out so that they could see his dusty clothes and one arm full of boxes and papers.

"Dead, Ma'am."

"Oh!" Mrs. Bly said very despairingly. "So… you are her relative?"

"Distantly," said the man. "Did you know her?"

"A little," Mrs. Bly said. "I had wanted to see if she still kept any copies of the 'Family Train Accident'."

"An article?" the man asked curiously.

"From the newspaper – 'the London Spy'," Mrs. Bly said.

"She had a full board of them, and I was just about to sort it through. You'll come inside?"

Mrs. Bly looked back at Alexandra, who shrugged. She nodded, and followed the man forward into the old house.

It wasn't a peculiarly pleasant place, knowing that its mistress had died. And the floorboards were dusty and creaked when you stepped on them, and the rooms where very empty, because the man had already cleaned many of them (out of the few there were to clean).

The man led them to a very small back room, and opened the door to reveal it still furnished.

"This was her bedroom," he said, and instantly left.

Mrs. Bly walked undaunted into the room, Alex hesitated behind. She had no fear of spirits or the dead, she didn't believe that when people died they haunted places, or anything like that which little children try to scare each other with.

At fourteen she felt fairly mature and significant over these fantasies.

She stepped into the old bedroom and watched her mother go to a board where many paper clippings and notes were all posted with metal pins.

Mrs. Bly searched all up and down, but couldn't seem to find a thing.

Below the board was a chest of drawers, also covered with newspaper clippings. One of the drawers of it was opened, and this too had one last clipping in it.

Mrs. Bly slipped her hand through the space of the half-opened drawer and pulled it out. It said on the top, in large letters: "Ten killed in Family Train Accident".

Alex stepped forward to see the writing better, which her mother seemed so engrossed in.

But as she hesitantly walked forward, the side of her dark red long coat (a pride of hers) caught against some old wood, and knocked something onto the ground.

There was a not-so-comfortable crash as the small, dirty wooden box hit the boarded floor and broke open. (And when I say broke, I don't mean it just came unlocked, for the real wood around the edges shattered around the metal lock and unsealed it, scattering whatever was inside on the floor).

"Alexandra!" her mother exclaimed in an oddly loud whisper. "This is _not our house!_ You must be _very careful! _Hurry and clean that." Then she turned back to the article in her hands.

Alex lifted the tiny wooden box delicately and sighed miserably to herself as she saw it was broken. The contents on the floor, though, made her stop.

They were the most beautiful, brilliant jewelry you could ever imagine in these days. They were not fake and bright, or painted to look somewhat silly and childish, or simple – they looked to be the same material, all the way through and through, and round eternally – because they were beautiful, and real, not playthings, but true _rings. _

There was only one pair of them, one yellow ring and one green ring.

She reached down with one hand to carefully close it around them… …And then suddenly, she was gone. Disappeared.

She and the rings had all vanished, leaving only the empty wooden box on the floor.

Alex had a fleeting sensation of horrible terror, guilt, and yet freedom.

Where was she going? It seemed she had been dreaming the last few minutes, of knocking down the box, of finding the rings, and of feeling bad because she should not have seen them in the first place.

Slowly she felt herself rising, upward, out of the dreamy, underwater sensation, and then with the completion of her feeling of freedom, her head broke the surface of the water, and she was dazzled with warm, green light.

She forgot everything that she had felt and known before, as she walked, dry, out of the pool of water, and sat at the base of a tree next to it.

Her eyelids instantly seemed to sink downward, dropping toward sleep, but she found that she could not allow herself to fall to that.

She sat up, and stared at the trees above her.

They were so high that she could not seem to get past their enormous, leafy tops. All she saw above was green. Even the light, in that, place, she realized, was green. It was spectacular.

So there she sat, perhaps for a very long time, how long she never knew, and watched the pool at her feet, staring at the smooth water.

And suddenly she saw pictures in it. Not just pictures, but images, that shifted, and then began to move. She concentrated harder on them. The first was an image of her mother, reading the article about the very bad train accident. The next was herself, dropping the box, and picking up the rings, and vanishing.

The rings!

She looked down at her own hand, and saw, resting softly in her own palm, a shiny yellow ring, and a glittering green ring. They were both still there.

She stared at them, as though they were very familiar. But she could not quite make out why.

She stood, and at that moment her concentration on the pool slipped away, and the pictures vanished. She was disappointed for a minute. But then she thought, _Maybe the other pools do the same thing. _So naturally she turned to look for another pool beside the one she had just been looking into, and was rather surprised.

Instead of water, it seemed sad, and empty. At its base was what looked like bloody dust, left over from the strain of a great battle. But as she stared at it, she seemed to think that it was not dust, but crystals, tiny, tiny crystals of deep red and pale blue.

She leaned onto her knees and stared at it even harder. It was so beautiful, she wanted some of it, just to remember the place.

She looked for somewhere to store the two rings.

Her great coat was covered with pockets, and there were two upward, with one on either side of her chest. She decided to give them separate pockets, because the pockets were so small. So she dropped the yellow one, with careful note, into the left pocket, and the green into the right.

Then she knelt and scooped up some of the shining crystals.

Her hands seemed to tingle with that feeling you get when the blood goes away from your foot or fingers, and you must shake them to wake them up. But it was an even stronger sort of feeling than that, though her heart felt very heavy, as though she held the last remains of something very beautiful, that had become very sad. A voice seemed to whisper a word in her head; _Narnia. _And the clear, smooth pronunciation of the word was very familiar, as if she had heard it many times before, but she could not remember where.

She dropped the crystals in a pocket of her right side, down on the bottom of the coat (which ended at her thighs, it was rather long), and then stood again, to stare at the little hole in the ground. Suddenly she noticed, that leading away from the hole, were large, deep footprints, and in them was mingled more of the dust, as though a great creature walking there had tread it with finality before leaving. They were, on closer inspection, the great footprints of a lion.

To some, to think that there might be an enormous, wild lion in a large forest along with only you, would be very frightening. But to Alexandra, this was almost a comfort, thought she couldn't understand why. Her eyes watched the footprints that led ever deep into the forest, and she decided that she wanted to follow them. But before she could, a noise from behind her startled her.

She pivoted on her heel, so that she spun very suddenly, but halfway missed what was happening anyway, it all happened so quickly.

What she _did _see, however, was a form, bearing itself out of another little pool, weakly, as though it had hardly managed to get there, only just so.

It was a boy, maybe a little older than her, but at first she did not think so, for he was very thin, and pale, and looked awfully sad and sickly.

He crawled out of the pool, also dry, and did not seem to see her, as he breathed a deep breath and sat down with his legs before him and his hands out behind him, to steady himself.

Instantly, as he breathed, his face was full of color, and his form seemed a little less weak. He breathed with his eyes closed for some time, and then finally opened them, and saw her.

They might have sat there staring for a very long time, if he had not asked; "Where am I now?"

It did not seem that he should be the one to talk, so for a minute Alex only stood dazed, trying to clear her mind for a sound reply. But she found that all she could say was; "I don't know either," as she stared at his peculiar clothes -(they looked old-fashioned she thought)- for he wearing a sharp-cut, high-collared shirt under a wool vest, and his pants were loose, and ended just after his knees, and she found them to be just _rather_ strange, as she looked down at herself and saw her long, wide denim jeans, and white t-shirt (which said "LONDON" on the front in large pink letters – her mother had bought it at the airport for her when they arrived) and her long, maroon jacket.

"Well then," he said breathily, with a calm smile, "where did you come from?" and then waited, watching her earnestly with large, very light blue eyes, so light they were very close to white, but you would still call them blue.

She had been thinking, since she arrived in the strange woods, of the _Chronicles of Narnia,_ and the worlds there, and also someplace else, which she could only remember as "Earth" (and she thought maybe she knew _it_ best).

"It's called… called… Narnia… or Charn… or _Earth_… I think," she said, irresolute.

"I _have_ heard of a place called Charn, before," the boy said softly. "Is that where you came from?"

"No…" she said suddenly, a bit more decided. "I don't think so. I think I've only read about it."

"And Narnia?" he asked.

Here she turned to look at the pool of crystals. She felt her own finger drawn to point in that direction.

He leaned forward a little, and saw it.

"It looks… gone," he said very reverently.

"I guess so," she said sadly, as if she had known it all along. _But I wish not, _she thought, though afterward she couldn't figure out why.

"Where have you come from?" she asked. He closed his eyes.

"That pool, behind me," he said, and shuddered.

"Can we go there?" she asked.

"Oh no!" he said so quickly and breathily that she hardly heard him. He closed his eyes tighter and shivered. "No… I am very ill there."

There was a quiet moment where the two staid frozen in the same places they had started in, but much more uneasily.

"Then why are you not… ill here?" she finally asked.

"I don't know," he said, and bit his lip. But then he looked back up. "…Do you know of a place with free herbs, that anyone could use?" She looked puzzled.

"No," she said.

He looked greatly disappointed.

"But there ought to be one, somewhere in this wood."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"In this wood. Through a pool," she said matter-of-factly.

She stepped forward, and looked down at the many pools, and he got up, and began to follow her. Together they walked a little distance.

"There," she said suddenly, pointing, and he followed her gaze. It was a large pool, and the water was somewhat green. They both stared at it.

"It looks like the kind of place where things would grow, I think," she said, which was funny, as all they were looking at was water, and no real land.

"How do we enter?" he asked.

This is when she remembered the rings, and some part of her knowledge in world-traveling.

"Hold my hand," she said, extending her left hand. He took it, hesitantly, and she noticed that he felt very cold. "Now, I touch this yellow ring, in my left pocket," she said, and reached into the pocket, and touched the ring, which made her fingers feel as thought they were sparkling.

"And now we jump into the water," she said. He looked at her with an expression of bewilderment.

"Come on," she said, pulling him a little.

But they didn't really have to jump. As soon as her toe touched the water, they vanished.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Alexandra opened her eyes to a dark green landscape, felt something flat, and spongy beneath her, and breathed in a breath of fresh air.

Moments earlier she had felt pressure as though she were underwater – but now this calm, clarity – it stole the dazed stupor she had felt in the wood and let her past life creep back into mind.

Suddenly she knew who she was and where she had come from much better, and so she stood, and turned to look around, and saw him.

He was still beside her – but she, unconsciously, had let go of his hand.

A thousand questions flooded her mind, and she was startled at her own rapidity to break the tranquility.

"Who are you?" she asked. "What am I doing here!" (the second, because she already _somewhat _knew the answer, was more of an exclamation, just to get it out of her system.)

He looked up at her with startled blue eyes, and then weakly stood, gasping a little, as though he had trouble breathing.

"I'm Nihl – and you never told me your name, either." He had a very quiet voice, and after he spoke, if they had not both been breathing somewhat loudly or quickly, there could have been no other sound so soft in the entire world.

"Alexandra," she said, almost stumbling over her own name. Then she paused.

"Where's this? 'Wild London'?"

He looked very serious, as if he couldn't tell that she was being sarcastic.

"Have you been here before?"

She turned.

"_No_. I mean—" and then she just stopped, and started walking, looking upward, instead of at her feet. He trailed after her, a few feet apart, and followed her gaze.

The great trees around them were very thick, very, very large – and yet not so tall. One had only to stand on the tips of their toes and reach very hard upward to touch the spread of foliage coming from the thick branches.

As she remembered things from home, and America (and places on Earth), Alex thought that the trees were very much like extremely large Bonsai trees, those tiny little plants that you can buy at plants shops, that are supposed to have come from Japan. But now, of course, there didn't really seem to be any Japan.

That made her think, then, for one horrible, cold-insides moment, that perhaps in this world the ways were like those her own world, only she was more than ten times _smaller_ than everything else Smaller than people and animals – _and_ trees.That seemed horrible, and instantly she jerked her hand to the pocket on the breast of her coat that held the green ring, and felt, just to make sure it was still there.

A little bit assured, she looked back at Nihl.

"Come on," she said (because she had nothing better to say), and then started walking again.

He followed her over the thick green ground – which, you could say, was covered with grass – but not really, because it was more like a very dense, yet spongy, moss that was very dark green, and did not reveal any brown dirt beneath it. It looked hard, as far as the eye went, but it was actually quite soft, and somewhat squishy, almost as though someone had gone through the little wood and carpeted the whole thing with that rich, deep green color.

They walked for a time, unspeaking, and both, maybe, liked it that way, or at least for a while.

But after many minutes passed, it grew in the heads of both that the other might not like them, and that was why it was so silent. But yet neither could think of anything really meaningful to say, so it continued being that way, until they were both very glad when things changed a little.

Alexandra stopped walking first, for she was in the lead, and tilted her chin upward a bit, because this new view was very tall.

It was a great stone building, and one couldn't help feeling that it was somewhat like a temple. The material was dark grey, and there was not much space between the walls and the great double doors leading inside the building. They were so tall that it might have taken twenty men standing on each others' shoulders to touch the top – and this reminded Alexandra of a previous thought of hers, the one about giants, and things being larger here than in her world.

But the building was so very unlike any building in her world that she thought perhaps this was not a good assumption.

It was not just plain dark grey – for there were bright, glowing cerulean stripes that went straight up and down and around it, and bent sometimes, out of the way, for square-ish patterns and symbols – but always got back to going straight again.

As she observed this, she had a funny feeling that she was missing something. She finally realized what it was, as suddenly the large door began to rumble, as though it would collapse – for there were two small, silver rings near the bottom of the door. They were door handles, and far too low for a giant to reach. Now, they were turning, shaking…

Quite unexpectedly, they spun away and disappeared, right into the dark grey material they had been part of – and the great doors, instead of swing dramatically open, slid mechanically aside, vanishing – and most unexpected of all came someone very small, down the enormous dark grey stairs.

She stepped very lightly, her large, light blue kimono swishing against her hidden legs. Not even her hands or feet showed beneath its length.

Her hair was fair and golden, and pulled into two tight buns, symmetrically placed on either side of her head, just above, and a little behind her ears. She had a few shorter strands of hair in the front that were too short to put up, and this swayed freely in the light breeze at the frame of her face.

Her eyes were a bit downcast, and her lips were moving, as though she were talking to someone. But there didn't appear to be anyone there beside her…

Her hands, which had been pressed together under the folds of fabric that covered them in front of her, went to her sides, and she called out:

"Alowan!"

In a sharp, but light voice, so that both Alexandra and Nihl stopped, and somewhat jumped, because they knew that she was talking to them.

She shuffled forward, keeping her hands at her sides, and bowed low to them.

"Visitors from Akharashafin?" she said, putting her hands back in front of her and raising her head.

The two before her were dumbfounded.

"You speak Zamachein?" she asked, seeing their blank expressions.

This time Nihl stepped forward, looking very shy, and more worn, now that they were in broad daylight, and the sun of mid-morn.

"I – I'm actually looking for something, Miss."

"Oh?" she asked, with a soft, sweet voice.

"Yes, but—" he faltered, as though there was a lack of words in his vocabulary for him to express himself with.

"It is mid-morn, is it not?" she asked, "and you must be hungry, no?"

"No, I just ate dinner," Alexandra mumbled, and Nihl thought silently for a moment, and then said; "Where I come from, it is the middle of the night. But that isn't…" again he paused, as though unable to speak, or out of breath.

"You have taken a long journey, then, from a capitol, hhn!" she exclaimed, surprise in her bright blue eyes. "Come, you must dine with my clan."

The two looked a little surprised as she started away, but they followed, anyhow, into the great dark grey building.

The first hallway they passed through was filled with cerulean blue doors, the colors of the patterns on the front of the building. The second (in between which was a large, round, empty room, except for a blue square in the middle of it, and a few vases in notches in the walls) was filled with blue patterns, and was much shorter. At the end of this hall, there was a turn to the left, and at the right, where there was no turn, a blue square, on the wall, a little higher than the average height of a person's head.

The way they took, to the left, led into a short hallway, and a very large, circular room again. But in the middle of the room was a low, blue table. Around the table were four beings – a fair skinned, grey haired man (who somehow resembled their guide), a ragged youth with olive skin and black, slick hair, and a creature. Sitting, with the old man at the right head of the table, the dragon to his right, and the young man a seat down from the man's left, by himself.

The creature was the first to turn and greet them.

"Alowan, Candock, guests," it said, nodding in first to the girl, and second to the two behind her. "Are we ready to breakfast?"

"Yes, Ogwatchu," Candock said, sitting beside the scaly beast on one of the square blue cushions.

Alexandra and Nihl warily seated themselves at the last two remaining seats, Alexandra beside the kind girl, leaving Nihl to go around and sit at the left of the grey-haired man, beside the dark looking youth.

As soon as they were all seated, the grey-haired man bowed his head, and the others did the same – Alexandra and Nihl quickly emulating the action.

"Dearest Master," the man said softly. "Thank You for this meal which we about to receive by the grace of Your hand. Let it nourish and strengthen us. And please be with these our new guests, and thank You for bringing them here – _by Your unbroken will_."

Alexandra, who felt somewhat familiar with the short speech (she would have called it a prayer, or blessing) was waiting for the man to say "Amen" at the end. But when he didn't she cautiously looked around, and saw that the others had all unfolded their hands and raised their heads, and she did the same.

"So, my two young friends, what brings you to Zamachei, and the house of my clan-Louz?"

Alexandra realized he was speaking to her, but she was already so bewildered with the whole few past events that she was really quite dazed. She felt like a character in a fiction novel, and thought maybe it was how she ought to act.

"We're on a… quest," she said (which was really how she almost did think of, for Nihl had said he was looking for… something, and that was a good enough quest, for her. She felt that she ought to help him out – he seemed so gentle, and dazed…).

The man looked like he was waiting for a little something at the end, so she quickly added: "Sir."

This didn't seem to be quite what he was looking for, but he allowed it to pass.

"A quest, from Akharashafin, ahn?" he seemed to wait a moment for a response, but then continued again when none was heard. "…And what noble capitol is it that you come from?"

"…W-Welkin," Nihl said.

"Earth," Alexandra said.

They had both misunderstood the question.

The man looked somewhat confused, his brow furrowed.

"Are these… towns, then, ahn?"

The two seemed to realize their mistake.

"No… Sir-" Nihl stumbled, and then breathily added; "But it is where I come from."

"Hhn," the man said, and there was silence, where the two newcomers caught the feeling that they were all waiting for something.

There was a very curious silence – and then suddenly a slight rattling (Alexandra did not hear it), like the sound that silverware makes when you set it down on a wooden dinner table a little too quickly, vibrating – or when someone drops a dinner bowl from a small height, and it begins to spin…

And then suddenly, Oh!

In front of each seat at the table, in the little blue place squares, appeared six silver bowls, each filled with long, green noodles, and each with a pair of what might have been called chopsticks (also of silver) stuck in the very center of them.

The grey-haired man at the head of the table clapped his hands, and everyone picked up their chopsticks – except for Alexandra, who had reached for hers early, and then stopped halfway because it had seemed the wrong thing to do. So she was the last to reach back and grab her own – or so she thought.

Then they all leaned a bit forward, and ate with one hand holding the bowl against the table, one hand working the chopsticks.

No one seemed to have noticed, at this time, that Nihl had not taken up his bowl. He was sitting with his legs properly crossed under him, as everyone else – but he was slouching a little, and his eyes were at his hands, which were in his lap. His face looked rather green.

The first few moments of eating slowed a bit, until there was a little conversation.

"…You travelers, you know, are not the first to be strangers in clan-Louz," the scaly creature spoke, craning its long neck across the table to get a look at Alexandra with its large, green eyes.

She thought now, as she looked at it, that it was just like a little person-size dragon, one from fairytales, or right our of a picture-book illustration. But she was still frightfully anxious to talk to it, though she very much enjoyed talking with people who would start conversation – which was what the dragon was doing. Still, she was quiet, though, as it continued.

"This youth, there, from the looks of it, is a pure blood from Akharashafin. We found him in the Oubonzi forest, there, in front of clan-Louz – where Candock found you."

"Oh," Alexandra said, and used her chopsticks to pick up some noodles (she had been to Chinese restaurants many times before, and liked chopsticks) and eat them rather skillfully.

"He doesn't speak, though," the dragon added, glancing at the young man. "Perhaps… deaf and mute?"

The black-haired youth had already finished his bowl of noodles, and was sitting on the front edge of his cushion, his dark hands clasped in front of him below his empty bowl. None of them might have guessed that his dark eyes, hidden behind the greasy strands of his black hair, were watching the boy, Nihl, who sat to his right.

The dragon turned back to its food, and for a moment everything was silent as the others ate.

The youth leaned backward in his seat, then shifted back even farther, pushed a greasy strand away from his right eye, for a moment, and stared out of the corner of his eye at the boy, who sat frozen, but his body shaking.

The youth was breathing very heavily, and his eyes darted downward as though he were studying in his mind how to approach the situation. But he did not say a word.

One of his hands shifted, awkwardly across the table, grabbed the grey-haired man's left hand, and brought it down in a stiff action onto Nihl's hand.

The whole company turned to stare, and then was shocked.

Nihl's skin might have been defined as a whole new shade of green. His eyes were half closed, and he looked as if the faintest action would bring him to unconsciousness.

The man with the grey hair brought his light colored hand out of the youth's olive one and pressed it against the forehead of the younger boy.

He still did not utter a word as he stood fully, gently lifted Nihl and carried him out of the room.

Candock immediately rose, bowed away from the table, and ran in a fashion most un-lady-like into the hallway after the man. Alex jumped up too, because she already felt like she ought to have known that something was wrong the boy she took to this world. The dragon, Ogwatchu, leapt out of his seat and into the air on leathery wings, making also a sort of bow in the air before flying out of the room. Alex did not bow as she followed.

They all left the black haired youth sitting at his place in the table, gripping the hard material, looking down at his legs and breathing heavily.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Alexandra was alone, standing before a small doorway, beside herself with a rush of emotions.

For the first few moments in this strange place, she had been utterly delighted with the scenery, the people, the tingling feeling that ran through her… and now she was abhorring herself.

She felt that she had made a definite mistake – bringing Nihl with her to this foreign earth. It was all quietly disconcerting, and she chastised herself in her mind. If only she knew what was wrong with him…

She paused—her thoughts having blurred together past making much sense—and began to look around her.

The doorway which she stood before was just in the middle of three halls—one before her, one to her left, and one to her right. All of them curved after a while, so that one could not see what was past them after a few steps or so.

At first she did not recognize a change in the silence—but then gradually, she became aware of a soft jingling sound, like light bells brushing against each other, rustled by movement.

She looked around, but saw no one in front of her or to her right. Then she looked to her left.

Coming around the corner, some distance from her, was a figure about her size—coming most spectacularly on cat-like legs. The person did not hardly move their arms, except to sway them a little, as in a dance.

She (for it certainly was no man) was humming as she danced, and held a fan in one hand, that she fluttered most avidly beside her, but did not move much.

_She must be practicing something_, Alex thought, but didn't have time to think much more as the girl stood and looked up.

The other girl did not look the least bit shocked. In fact, she looked rather able to handle any amount of strange happenings.

This fact might have been told by her eyes—which were very large, and dark brown, and were strange—but Alexandra could not have told you why. They were rather… child-like.

The other girl's skin was an olive color, her features very dark. Her hair was black, and cut raggedly, but clean, and streaked with a bright red dye. She was altogether very colorful.

"Hello," she said, and held the fan close to her face. She had a very lively voice.

Alexanrda, who was used to hearing the very common "Alowan" might have been quite pleased to hear a familiar greeting, if she had not been a little transfixed by the other girl, and her wild (if not also a bit immodest, showing a bit of belly and thigh, hidden behind gossamer fabric) clothing (which Alexandra did not _like, _but she felt as though she _did like_ the other girl herself).

The other girl began to look Alex up and down, as Alex was doing to her. They were both a bit enchanted with each other's clothing and actions.

"LON-DON," the olive-skinned girl pronounced very well (reading Alexandra's t-shirt). "Is that were you live?" (She said this next sentence with a heavy accent, making "is" sound like "eez" and "live" sound "leev".)

"Hm?" Alex said, and then met the girl's large eyes. She like looking into peoples eyes.

"Oh, well, no—" she started, but thought it might be difficult to explain any further.

"You are new here. I haven't seen you before," the other girl said quickly. Her voice had strong inflection in it, and was somewhat high pitched, very different from the calm, soft voice of Candock.

"Yeah," Alex said, but couldn't think of anything else.

"My name is Rigamaron. I am new too," the other girl said. "I come from Akharashafin. So does the other young man. You know him?"

Alex wasn't sure what she meant.

The other girl laughed.

"Don't worry. We will be good friends soon!" She spoke very good English, and sounded very confident of her words.

She (who had called herself Rigamaron) laughed again, and this time pulled the fan away from her face, where a sudden burst of light was revealed.

Alex was not prepared for this, and she rather leaned back a little, with a sort of jump.

The stream of lights spread out, and glowing orbs rushed out from behind the fan and began to surround the olive-skinned girl.

If Alex had counted them (which she had not the presence of mind to do) she would have counted exactly seven.

At first they seemd rather amorphous, changing sorts of lights. But then they faded a little, and became solid and lively. There were only two that stayed rather glowing and white – the rest were extremely colorful; red, purple, green, blue…

Alexandra stared.

When Rigamaron had finished laughing, the creatures stopped swarming her, and seemed content to hover in a rainbow colored aura around her.

She met Alex's gaze again, and seemed to recognize the surprise in it.

"Oh, have you never seen them before?" she exclaimed cheerfully.

Alex, still staring, managed to blink and reply; "No—what are they?"

"Fae!" the girl said quickly. (The word sounded like _Pha-ee _to Alex.)

"Fae?" she asked.

The girl laughed loudly and raised her hands.

"Are they not very wonderful? Run free, little sprites!"

The creatures wildly dispersed, some fluttering about with flaxen sorts of wings, some soaring above with the flapping of heavier, feathered wings.

Alexandra watched in awe as one of the more shapeless, brightly glowing things came to her. She looked straight at it, and was somehow delighted and horrified all at the same time to realize that it had large, bulbous black eyes (all of them did!). That was about all it was—large black eyes and a glowing white body.

At first she was not sure what to do—she dared not swat at it as though it were a stray insect (this seemed like a _very bad _thing to do, although it was her first instinct, which she stifled), so she stood very still, and let it come to her.

It nuzzled against her neck, where her long brown hair hung down, and then settled softly to hovering above her shoulder, which it seemed to have claimed.

She looked at Rigamaron for help.

"Oh!" the other girl said. "Don't you have a Fae? Or are you a keeper, like me?"

"What?" Alex said. "I don't even –really- know what they are!"

The other girl laughed and laughed, her face bright.

"Don't you see? It is your friend now! You can call it your 'sprite'."

"I thought it was yours," Alexandra said, very much confused.

"Oh, but none of them are really mine," she said. "Only Chuwachun have I had the longest—" she pointed to a ragged, feathery-winged Fae, colored purple and red. "—but the rest are from many places. Do not worry—I can't be Rigamaron of the Seven Fae with only six Fae! I will find another, I always do."

Alexandra looked beside her at the glowing blob.

"Does it eat?" she asked hesitantly.

"Not—_physically_," the girl said, as if proud of her phrasing. "It lives from you, the love you give it, and the things that you let it see. It will show parts of you to the world that the world cannot see—it can be good or bad. But love will teach it right. People who don't have Fae are not safe in this world. Fae are our little guardians."

This made an idea hit Alex squarely on the head (figuratively speaking).

"Can they make you… healthy?" she asked.

"They are good friends when you are sick," Rigamaron said. "A loved Fae will do all that it can to take some of the pain and ailing away from its keeper."

Alex nodded, now growing impatient.

"I know someone who doesn't have a… Fae," she said. "Do you think… you could spare one?"

(It didn't sound too polite to her, but she felt she had to say it.)

"Yes, there is one here that is still small," Rigamaron said, pointing to a Fae which looked very much like Alex's.

Alex found herself smiling a little.

"They told me to wait outside this hallway," she said, pointing to the hallway across from where she stood.

"Who?" Rigamaron asked.

"Candock, and…" Alex started, but couldn't remember if she had ever learnt the old man's name.

"Yes," Rigamaron said, as if that was good enough. "So you are still waiting?"

Alex sighed.

"Uh-huh. It's—" (she was going to say something about Nihl, because she was very worried about him, but all she blurted out was;) "—been a while."

Rigamaron seemed to think this was horrible.

"They shouldn't make a guest wait. Let's go find them." She started forward, her swarm of Fae ready to follow. Alex shook her head.

"I don't think so."

"Why not? Don't you want to know what they're doing?"

"I do—" Alex started, and then paused. "Sort of. I'll just wait. They told me to."

Rigamaron stopped, looked Alex up and down a little bit more, and the shrugged, her Fae bobbling behind her.

"Oh well. You are such a good person," she said, and started off.

Alexandra couldn't think of anything to say, though she did feel herself blushing, and wondered if this last sentence had been made as a compliment (though a rather strange one, if so). Even if she had to wait for another hour, she felt that it was better to not go against the nice people who had taken her in, and disobey their wishes.

And she didn't have to wait much longer, anyhow.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

There was a soft rustling from the hallway before Alex, and soon Candock appeared, followed by the elderly man.

Alex smiled hopefully, almost laughing at Rigamaron, for she had left just in time _not _to see Alex's waiting pay off.

"Alowan," Candock said, bowing a little, and then starting as she noticed the glowing form at Alex's shoulder.

"You have a Fae," she said softly.

"Yes—_Rigamaron_ gave it to me," Alex said, emphasizing the strange girl's name. Her heart jumped a little then, as she remembered that, because the girl had left, she had no way to get the Fae for Nihl.

"Hhn," Candock said. There was a slight pause, and then the fair haired girl continued to speak

"Your friend is sleeping now."

"Is he alright?" Alexandra asked anxiously.

Candock looked back at the elderly man with a worrisome glance.

"He is very ill," the man admitted gently.

Alex bit her lip so quickly that she was unconscious of any pain. She was remembering that Nihl had said that he was searching for something—and she suddenly wanted to know what it was.

"Will you tell me when I can talk to him?" she asked.

"Hhn hhn," Candock said, shuffling forward. "For now, you must come with me. I will show you to your guest room—ah… Pardon—may I ask your name?"

"Alexandra," Alex replied, feeling a little tired at the mention of "room", which made her think of "bed" and "sleep".

"Hhn, Alexandra," Candock said, and, with a gentle nod, started down the hallway which Rigamaron had come from.

"But… you can call me Alex," she said, walking after the other girl, for the first time revealing her nickname in that foreign place.

"Ah… Alex, then? Hhn hhn," Candock said, with a pleasant smile.

Tired as she was, this smile warmed Alex very well.

Perhaps world hopping isn't such a bad thing once one gets used to it.

The faint jingling of tiny bells seemed to echo through her mind as Alex opened her eyes.

She looked around her, groggy, but aware… aware of the dark grey, stone built room, aware of the thin mat beneath her, aware of the bright blue, "doorless" doorway beside her…

Finally her memories came fully to her, her old life rehashed itself, her thoughts collected, and she remembered altogether who she was, what she was doing, and where she wanted to be at.

She sat up and felt the breast pockets of her coat—which still held the magic rings. Green right, yellow left. Or was it the other way around? Green left, yellow—

"Hello, _Alexandra_!"

The cheerful, high-pitched voice of Rigamaron assaulted Alex's thoughtful isolation with obvious delight at the pronunciation of her own name.

"Hi," Alex replied, a bit dazed, looking up to see Rigamaron in the open doorway.

Her Fae were fluttering around her, not hidden behind the fan like before. As Alexandra sat there on the mat (her new, temporary bed), she realized that the faint jingling noise was the Fae. It was not really bells—nor "jingling" per say—it was like speech, like the little natural things of creation all put together—trickling brooks, the dripping of melting icicles, flowers or fields swaying in the breeze, whistling wind in trees… The little sprites were speaking!

Alex, a bit pensive about the wonderful creatures, also remembered hers, and turned to look at it.

It was the most wonderful thing to her—to see that it had turned a faint shade of maroon purple—resembling the color of her jacket!

For a moment she was quite elated, as this was one of her favorite colors, and it seemed to be so perfectly silly and yet nice that it had turned that exact color. But obviously the other girl didn't share in her ecstasy. Alexandra shook away the surprise and stood.

"What is it?" she asked (restraining from her usual "What's up?").

"The Fae! We are going to give it to your friend, remember?" Rigamaron laughed.

"Oh—" Alex said, very pleased that the other girl, _had, _after all, remembered her wish.

"Do you know about him… if he's awake?" she asked, following Rigamaron out of her bedroom.

"Yes, I think so," she laughed. "Or he ought to be, at least. I heard that you both slept for most of the day!"

"Huh?" Alex grunted.

"It wasn't even noon when I met you, and now it is evening. Lovely evening…" Rigamaron said, as though she were more talking to herself than anyone else (or perhaps to her hovering Fae?).

"Oh," Alex said, feeling more refreshed—but not ready to go back to bed yet, as that seemed to be what was coming after "evening". This time changing… it was sort of like Jetlag. She smirked a bit to herself. First from the United States, then to Britain, then to… wherever and whatever this new world was.

As they walked through the hallway, Alex couldn't help worrying about Nihl again. Wasn't it strange, that, though he could have come from a whole different time and place than her, that they had both happened to be in the strange wood at the same time? And it was all her idea to travel through the pools, and now… suppose that he— But she couldn't think of that.

They were soon approaching the place at which she had stood waiting for Candock and the elderly man, all to be whisked away to her new bedroom, where she had promptly fallen asleep. Not much seemed to have been accomplished on her part lately, so she was getting rather desperate to show up and present a Fae to Nihl. Perhaps it would help him heal? She earnestly wished so.

She was back to the round of forcing he blame on her bringing him there when she found herself nearly crashing into Rigamaron in front of the three hallways.

She stuck out her heel to avoid a large collision and swiveled sot of military-style toward the hallway where Nihl ought to be, or somewhere down it…

Rigamaron laughed as she saw Alex's lack of concentration on where she had been going.

"Are you going in yourself?" she asked, using an olive-colored hand to gently push her only tiny, glowing Fae toward Alex.

"Well…" Alex started.

"Go on. Follow her, sprite," Rigamaron said, gently waving at the air, so that the Fae, which had been hovering hesitantly, fluttered after Alex.

"You can come with me if you want," Alex said, secretly wishing that the other girl would.

"Oh no. Go on yourself," Rigamaron said with a laugh, petting the large purple and red Fae she had called "Chuwachun".

Alex walked slowly toward the dark hallway, ever so carefully turned the corner, and… found herself in another hallway. She began walking down this hallway (which was rather short), which had about two doorways in it. Both were open—which reminded Alexandra of the strange lack of doors in the place. The only doors were on the outside of the building, or at least, those were the only ones she had seen yet.

She carefully peered into both doorways, and at first saw nothing to rave of. The first room contained a mat, a blue stool (like the ones in the dining room) and a strange, long, thin bag that was so ragged glimpses of something shiny showed through the sides. It was very shadowy, so she didn't catch what was in the corners.

The next room, at first glance, was also fairly empty. It was wider to the right, so she started looking in at the convenient left side, which contained not much more than a table cluttered with a few bottle and vials, and a stack of blankets. She was about to pass by when her heart suddenly scrambled awkwardly as though it had missed a beat.

A voice had called her name—a soft, breathy voice.

She stepped into the room.

Laying on a mat in one of the dark corners at the right was Nihl.

She couldn't see him very well as she walked forward, almost afraid to come too close. But she was on a mission—of a sort—and she knew that she ought to be able to overcome her fear.

She bit her lip as he turned on his side from where he was lying and faced her. He looked as though he were shivering—yet he was covered with many thick blankets.

She felt as though she had a rather large presence beside him, but she couldn't think of what it was, until she realized that the two Fae at her shoulders were glowing.

She felt she ought to kneel close to him—as though his quiet voice signified that she also should be silent, and close to him so that he could hear her.

"Have you ever seen one of these before?" she asked, gently nudging the unclaimed Fae toward him with her open palm.

It fluttered slowly forward until it was just close to his face, lighting his pale features.

His breathing seemed to come in a gasp as his light eyes watched it with fascination. He did not speak, but reached out his hands to pull it to him. This time it came willingly, as if knowing that it was meant for him, and settled close to his shoulder.

His breathing became more calm.

"Thank you."

She realized he had spoken.

"Yes—" she started, and somehow felt like she was losing his attention. She quickly, almost randomly added; "Is there anything you need?"

She wanted to say more, but the words wouldn't quite come off her tongue.

He closed his eyes.

"No."

She found herself speaking again, and couldn't seem to hold back.

"But you said you were looking for something…"

His eyes opened again, as if she had reminded him of something significant that he had forgotten.

"Yes—" he said, but then shivered, and pulled the blanket over him closer.

For a moment there was nothing at all to be heard but the soft fluttering of the Fae wings.

Alex felt glued to the ground, and stiffly stood, her knees feeling sore. It hadn't seemed like a long time she had been there, but now she wanted out of that, dark, foreboding place.

She walked backward, watching Nihl lie there with his glowing Fae resting between his neck and shoulder, shuddering a little, like him.

Had she done the right thing?

She turned, hoping that she might find one of her kind hosts to help Nihl, and then—

She almost screamed, but any noise she might have made seemed hopelessly caught in her throat. Her grey-blue eyes grew wide as she recognized the dark haired youth that had sat at the table that morning.

His dark brown eyes, almost black, seemed hardly to waver from meeting her gaze beneath his stringy hair. But then he cast his gaze down.

Horribly unexpectedly, she felt a rough hand grasp hers and press something thin and stiff into her palm.

She stood frozen, as she watched him dart away.

Moments later she wondered if he had been there at all—though her heart was beating so fast, and her eyes were so wide, that if it was not real, then it was a ghastly nightmare.

But looking down at her hand, she realized that, crushed in her fist, was a small piece of parchment.

She unraveled it and straightened it into reading order.

The writing was almost illegible it was so crudely done. The ink was still wet, and had smeared.

It read: _Meet on moon hill, deep night. Tell no one. I know cure for boy._


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"Alexandra?"

Alex's mind snapped out of its foggy stage and directed its attention to Rigamaron's approaching figure.

She paused, not sure what to say or do—but the other girl did the talking.

"Are you alright? I thought I saw that man go by, but---What's that?" she pointed a slender, olive-colored finger toward the rumpled note.

Alex tried to smooth it out again, and held it upside down so that the other girl could see.

"Mm?" Rigamaron grunted as she read, and her Fae seemed to mimic her expression of concern.

She slipped up beside Alex.

"I think he is a knight," she whispered. "There is no other way to explain his strange behavior. He can't speak—it must be magic!"

Alex felt a cool wave rush over her. _Magic…_

She stuffed the note into one of her many coat pockets.

Rigamaron gasped as though Alex had commited a form of trespass.

"Is that it?" the other girl asked. "You won't do anything?"

Alex started walking down the hallway.

"I don't know—I don't know where moon hill is, and if I did—"

"You wouldn't go," Rigamaron snapped. "Well, you do have a steady character. But don't you sometimes feel like a coward?"

Alex felt her face grow hot.

"I-I don't even know him! Anything could happen… at night on a hill, alone—" she stuttered.

Rigamaron paused, her Fae twittering around her, as if to emphasize her last statement. When there was nothing spoken for a while, Alexandra continued onward by herself.

The jingling noise grew faint, but then quickly caught up with her.

Rigamaron slipped in front of Alex and began walking backward as she spoke.

"Sorry—" she said, paused, and then suddenly added; "But don't you ever think that things are written in stone, and are meant to be done? Rules broken? Don't you want to help the boy?" (This seemed like a bit of a contradiction.)

Alex was getting upset—and a little infuriated by the girl's words. She tried to swallow her temper.

"I'm going to talk to-to Candock," she said, keeping her pace brisk. "They should have some medicine-or-or something…"

"Medicine?" Rigamaron asked, almost laughing, and again lost pace with Alex, who began to walk more quickly, wishing to end the conversation.

Alex turned the corner, hearing Rigamaron call as she ran after her, and then—

There was an uncomfortable collision as Alexandra realized that Rigamaron had ran to come round the corner, just in time to collide with Ogwatchu, the small dragon, who had been fluttering forward, unnoticed.

Rigamaron gave a short cry, her Fae echoing the surprise in this with a whirr of bell sounds that were most furious (and odd, coming from such placid-seeming creatures as Fae).

Alex, at first, was tempted to laugh—but she soon regained her composure.

"I beg your pardon!" the little dragon was exclaiming. "I-I wasn't expecting you to come—dreadfully sorry, 'twas my fault, I could have veered away…"

Rigamaron scooted back, her Fae following a little dazedly.

There was a very akward pause as the girl brushed herself off (though the impact had been quite harmless), and left the dragon (in a way) waiting for an apology (though he had already claimed the blame).

"You talk some sense into this girl, little dragon," she suddenly said, gesturing behind her back toward Alex. "There is a mystery to solve."

The faint jingling died away in the background.

Ogwatchu turned to Alex.

"Is everything alright?" he asked. She looked down at the ground, noticing he had dropped a few papers, and, as she knelt to help him pick them up, replied;

"I…I was hoping you had some medicine, maybe… for Nihl."

Ogwatchu, profusely thanking her for helping him gather the papers, stopped short and asked;

"What? Did you visit him, ahn?"

"Hmm? Oh—yes, I did—to give him a Fae," she said, looking down rather humbly.

"Medicine…" the little dragon murmured, as though uncertain as to what she meant by the word, and seeming not be really be paying attention to her latter explanation.

There was a moment of quiet as Alex began to walk down the hallway, back toward her room, not feeling very talkative anymore.

But the little dragon followed her.

"You have spoken to Father Ei and Candock?" Ogwatchu asked.

"What?" Alex asked.

"Spoken to Candock and her father," the dragon repeated.

"Oh—" Alex said, then paused, deciding the old man was Candock's father, then added; "About Nihl? Yes."

"So they have told you…?" Ogwatchu hinted further.

Alex stopped walking for a minute, unresolved as to what the dragon meant.

He shook his head.

"The illness is very strange, most uncommon. They have yet to discover a cure—in these parts. I do not know if…" his voice trailed off, but he suddenly resumed with a simple; "I do not know."

"There isn't a cure?" Alex asked, feeling her throat grow a little tight.

The dragon shook his head.

She paused, wondering if she should show him the note from the strange youth. But something inside honestly panged her not to… so she kept her hands decently at her sides and began to walk again.

That night, at the dinner table (which Alex unintentionally stumbled upon, long after losing her way to her bedroom), the same sort of rituals came about, including how the food arrived (although this time it was a steamed sort of dish, sweet and gooey, with meat). Alex wanted to ask how of all things it so appeared, but to the others it seemed all quite so natural that she could not bring herself to disrupt their perfect peace with a silly-seeming question.

Nihl and the strange youth were both absent at the table that evening, which also gave Alex a rather creepy feeling. She almost felt indebted to meet the young man on one side of her—but the other, very frightened side, screamed out with an attempt to stifle any thoughts about the note from her brain. But oh, how she wanted Nihl to be well! She began to harp on this so much that she nearly drowned herself with guilt, and ended up being shaken by Ogwatchu, for the little dragon was worrying for her health, and asking if she was well.

"Yes—" she answered, but almost went immediately back to worrying. She tried desperately to shove the thoughts away, but over and over again they came back, in one way or another.

One of the ways she was led to think of Nihl started with the Fae.

She could not understand how she had never seen the others' Fae before – but now, and quite plainly, she recognized that every one seated at the table had a distinct shoulder pet, hovering beside them like tiny guardians. She wondered if this had to do with magic and proper timing—as though the Fae were "revealed" to her distinctly and at just the right time for her to receive one of her own (which somehow she secretly delighted in, though to its face she was unsure how to act).

Dinner passed uneventfully for a good portion of the time—but as conversation slowed, Alexandra couldn't help suddenly asking;

"Why doesn't Rigamaron eat with all of you?"

There was a rather harsh silence that followed.

Candock's father (the old man, who Ogwatchu had called Father Ei) sat forward, and very kindly replied;

"She is unclean."

The words were very unusual to Alex, who could not understand what exactly they meant—though she had a sort of picture, a train of thoughts, particularly ones leading back to history lessons and tales of people living in Buddhist India, or things like that.

She didn't say anything.

"We have accepted her into our house in hopes that she might… repent," Candock said shyly, and did not meet Alex's gaze.

Alexandra wondered at this for a moment—but she couldn't think of anything to say, still.

There was not much need, however, to say anymore, for the old man stood, bowed his head, and left the table. The others, bowing before they left the room, quietly disassembled in the same manner.

Alex left slowly, and as she passed into the empty hall, noticed a slight vibrating noise—and guessed that this was the dinner table, clearing itself.

That night Alexandra had rather fitful sleep. It was almost dreadful (but not quite that bad) to sleep on a flat mat (for of course her usual bed was thick and high-up and soft, with a large pillow)—but the best she could think to do for it was to roll up her coat and put it beneath her head—as there was really no need for the extra warmth (the room was neither hot, nor cold).

A she lay there, she also realized that she had not had a shower for a while, which made her a bit uncomfortable—and then she started to realize that her coat was very lumpy, so she unrolled the "pillow" and extracted all the things that were hard, which she did not remember well in the dark. She only thrust them into a corner to let be and sleep.

The last thing that disturbed her was the fact that the room had no doorway, which was almost the creepiest part—except that the air was completely silent, and utterly noiseless. She liked quiet—but not _that much. _

Her thoughts turned, just for a vague while, once again to Nihl.

She pictured him, peacefully resting with his Fae tucked between his chin and shoulder, and then imagined him running in a field of flowers, healthy and happy, his Fae following him and making wonderful Fae noises of happiness. She remembered her own Fae, which was hovering sleepily over her—and wondered why it did not rest on her shoulder that way. But it looked like it was contentedly asleep, and she herself felt as though she were partially dreaming some nonsense about a nice little creature that floats beside you and turns your favorite color.

_They ought to have medicine, somewhere in this place, _she thought dreamily, and then; _If they don't, I can always find some. It shouldn't be that hard. Just a little quest, and maybe Rigamaron or Candock will aid me—though Rigamaron is very rude… no, that isn't kind, she seems alright… … _and so forth, until she had nearly resolved to ask someone, _anyone_ to help her find medicine for Nihl, who, she assured herself, would be well soon, anyway.

Somehow, though, she managed to fall asleep… though she did have one horribly gripping dream about dark, mysterious young men assaulting her or taking her to hills below the moon—which, thankfully, soon enough led to dreams about moons and stars—and flying (which she liked very well)—till for a while she slept comfortably.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

**I was disatisfied with the conduct of the character Candock and her descriptions of _Luna Serenda, _along with the fact that this chapter was uncommonly short compared with all the rest. So, I have revised and lengthened it, and many of the changes are in bold. The beginning is untouched. **

**Thank you for taking time to read this story--I hope you enjoy it. _–Cahira Arjaeis_**

Alex came to herself once again in the surroundings of dark grey stone—but now the grey was lighter, illuminated as though by an unseen light—as there were certainly no windows. It was very odd, almost as though one of the walls, though retaining complete solidity, was translucent. Nothing could be seen through it (the wall on her left, opposite the doorway) but sunlight, and brightness. Somehow this led her to the conclusion that it was well past morning.

Everything was still very quiet, as it had been the night before—so she sat on her mat-bed for a while, looking around her.

Her brow furrowed as she noticed a pile of things in the corner of the room beside her—the hard objects she had taken out of her coat so that she could use it as a pillow.

She crawled over to them and laid them out in a colorful array:

A mechanical pencil, a miniature notebook, a pocket New Testament Bible (the kind that includes Psalms and Proverbs), a mint, a hair band, and a wrist watch.

With delicate touch she lifted the pocket New Testament, and, on a whim, turned to Psalms, chapter twenty-three—familiar reading:

_The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want._

_He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters._

_He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake._

_Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me._

_You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over._

_Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. _

It was good to know, despite this incredible journey, that some things would never change. With an awkward, wondering smile, in her mind, she thanked God, her Shepherd, for keeping her safe—and asked His guidance on what to do about Nihl. If all this was a fantastic dream, it was nice to know that even in the land of dreams, God was present—and she could find assurance from Him.

Feeling a little calmed, she turned back to the pile of things; her eye fell on the wrist watch.

All these belongings were things she had taken with her in the long plane ride to busy herself with—the rest of her entertainment she had left at the hotel before this adventure.

She picked up the watch and looked down at its face. The time read: 5:32 in large, digital letters (it was the kind of watch that has a digital screen and metal face, and band of links—so that one would think it would have hands, and make a ticking sound…)

She watched it for a few moments, and noticed that the time did not change. Concerned, she hit the date button, to see if it worked either… It displayed the same date as the day she had been in London—which was wrong, for now more than a day had already passed, and it ought to have changed.

She sighed, about to set it back down again, and then had a rather fantastic revelation.

Supposing the watch was frozen as long as she was in this world? Supposing it did not change, and no time passed, until she reentered London?

Considering the time records in the_ Chronicles of Narnia_, this seemed like a trustworthy assumption.

She was still dwelling on it when a voice invaded her thoughts.

"Alowan—Alex."

Candock walked into the doorway, holding a bundle of what looked to be rather large, fluffy towels, her light blue, graceful Fae swerving in a slow pattern behind her.

Alex started up, noticing her Fae for what might have been the first time that morning. It was turning a deeper purple.

"Hi," she said. Candock smiled.

"Would you like to bathe this morning…?"

_A bath!_

How nice it was to finally feel clean again!

Candock had taken her through the many hallways, into one in particular—one covered with large, bright blue panels and strange, bright blue runes. They had stepped into one of the panels, and vanished, gone away—to a very wonderful place with great stone hills, covered with moss, and a steaming, heated waterfall. In the distance was the clan-Louz, surrounded by a dense forest of the great bonsai trees (Ogwatchu had called the forest "the Oubonzi forest" as Alexandra remembered).

Candock had left her to bathe in the warm pools beside the water fall, and gone to wash her clothes. When she came back, she delivered a silken kimono much like hers to Alex's disposal, to wear for the time that her clothes dried.

It was a lovely kimono, green, with glittery white, star-shaped patterns over it. Alex wore her hair in a ponytail with the hair band she had kept in her pocket, and was overall quite comfortable.

Finally she stood, bathed, dressed, and very pleased, waiting for Candock.

While she waited, she looked around her, eyeing distant scenery.

Somewhere far away she made out the shape of high, stone walls—and above them, a strange shape, like a little pagoda.

She was still eyeing it when Candock came behind her.

"Alowan, Alex. Are you all ready to go back, now?"

Alex turned around, a little startled, and blushing, because she had felt a tad jumpy since the mysterious note from the mute youth.

"Uh, yeah," she said, starting after Candock with a last glance over her shoulder. "What's that place back there?" she gestured behind them, and Candock paused, her light blue eyes straining beyond the rolling green hills.

"Hhn—that is Moon Hill—some call it _Luna Serenada." _

Alex's heart jumped. _Moon Hill—that is the place in the note. Luna Serenada is a prettier name, though. I like it better, _she thought, and walked after Candock, trying to be casual.

"What's up there?" Alex asked.

"In ancient days of perversion, it was a temple," Candock said gently. "But now it is a righteous place, there for one to receive the beauties of creation."

"**Oh," Alex said, studying the place. "Is it guarded? **

"**Oh no," Candock said. "The gate surrounding the tower is just a walled garden. There was once a key that locked the gates—but now it is lost, and… it would be a grief to forbid such a wonderful place from others, anyway…" **

**They started walking again.**

"**So—who tends the flowers?" Alex suddenly questioned.**

"**Oh—no one," Candock said sadly. "They are all overgrown, none know what they need."**

"**What?" Alex asked, confused. Candock glanced over her shoulder, her Fae moving out of her line of vision. **

"**They are extraordinary plants," she said. "It was once **said that they were magical, but, ah—I do not think it is so…" **she smiled sadly, then began walking more quickly, up the green hill before them.**

"**Hm," Alex said, wishing she could visit the strange, forlorn-sounding place, no matter how much its beauty had faded. **

**Candock seemed to read her mind.**

"Perhaps I can take you there sometime?"

Alex grinned.

"Cool!—" (and then, wondering if the people in this world new modern slang, translated;) "-I… I'd like that."

For a while they walked in silence. Alex listened to the faint, whispery fluttering coming from the Oubonzi forest before them, and watched her feet delicately as they tread on the bright, beautifully green grass. Her Fae twittered peacefully on her shoulder, for a moment, reminding her of Nihl. She tried to force the thought away for fear she would worry herself too much. There was a movement before her, and her attention was distracted.

Candock pulled a key out of the light blue folds of her kimono and stepped to the top of the hill before them, then turned to face Alex.

"Alright," she said, holding out the key. It was very bright colored, green and yellow, twisted perfectly, like a work of art by a master sculptor.

"What?" Alex asked, her face skeptical.

Candock smiled once at Alex, then took the key in her hands and rubbed it gently, then gradually more vigorously.

A bright light flashed before them, and then Alexandra **felt a warm hand in hers, through which **a wave of something bright and a tad stinging washed over her and, almost—or at least that was how it felt—pull her upward.

When she opened her eyes, they were back in the dark grey hallway that was covered with blue panels and patterns.

She glanced back at the blue panels somewhat incredulously as Candock led her away, then followed.

Perhaps green and yellow rings worked just as well as green and yellow keys…

At noon she meandered alone through the clan-Louz until she had come into the same dark hallway with the blue symbols all over it. The walls confused her; she could not remember which blue panel she had stepped through before, and it was a tad distressing. She was none too anxious at first, but then she began to imagine horrific things that could be on the other sides of the panels. It seemed as though they all ought to travel somewhere in the same world, so at least she could not probably get things too wrong by trying. She could not remember if Candock had used her key when getting into the panels, but she did not think so. However, she decided to make sure, so, just as she was reaching for a random blue panel, she thrust her hand into her yellow-ring pocket and pushed forward. The clan-Louz hallway vanished, and she was thrust upward into bright, green light. She dimly recognized the green wood as she crawled out of the large, dark green pool. Her heart was beating heavily; she was glad that the rings worked all right, but this was not where she had exactly wanted to go. Suddenly a wave of homesickness swept over her. What was her mother doing? Had time rushed forward while she was in the other world? Suppose they were searching for her! She glanced before her until she made out the pool with the crystals covering the bottom of it. The small pool beside it was the pool to home. But no, such an adventure was waiting for her, she could not leave, she was indebted to Nihl, the other world, the people there. She turned back to the dark green pool, put her hand in her green-ring pocket, and dove back in. It had taken a little guts, but she was back where she started. As she looked around her at the hallway, it seemed it had grown a little darker. Perhaps it was the contrast of lights from the green wood. She wanted to run and exclaim how she was back, but instead, bit her tongue and stepped forward, toward one of the blue panels, reached out…   



	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

**For those of you who haven't read my story lately, I did change Chapter Six, so you might be a little confused if you try reading this without going back and first taking a look at that:) What I have edited is in bold, and it is mostly at the end.**

**Sorry for any inconveniences.**

**Happy reading!**

**Cahira Arjaeis**

Her eyes were unaccustomed to the darkness as she stumbled forward, her leg brushing against something rough and hard. She leapt aside, shivering with excitement, then paused.

A tree?

She felt forward, gripping the thick trunk, and then rested against it for a moment as her eyes finally made out that she was in a thin forest. In the distance, the moon, a faint sliver of a crescent, shimmered dimly, hardly illuminating anything.

Suddenly she jumped.

"…I saw something! Check over here!" The speaker's accent was thick and foreign, perhaps—Arabic sounding?

Alexandra drew in her breath quickly, leaning flat against the tree, and searched the landscape around her. At first she could not tell from where the voices came—but then she saw a dark figure, someone on horseback.

Ever so gently she inched round to the opposite side of the tree, hopefully out of his sight.

Another voice rose from the dark.

"I saw something! I think it was her!"

Her eyes grew wide. _Her? Are they searching for ME?_

"Hey! What was that?" the voices sounded closer.

It was as if they could hear her heartbeat. _What have I done? I have no reason to run, _she thought, her mind racing.

A horse's whinny erupted just beside her, and with that, she took off like fleeing prey.

"Come on!" the voices behind her hollered, and there was a heavy pounding of hooves that began chase.

She stumbled over the rough ground, realizing that it was rather difficult to run in the green silk kimono that Candock had given her.

_Why am I running? _She nearly tripped, but instead thrust forward with determination. _They won't catch me—they just can't, _she thought, but she could not understand why she desperately did not want those men to find her.

For a moment, when she could no longer think about herself, she realized that the sound of hooves had died away, become much more distant behind her.

She almost paused with relief, and then suddenly—too suddenly—something burst from the trees beside her.

With a gasp she fell to the ground, whether her legs had given way or she had been knocked down, she did not know.

Her eyes searched the darkness wildly as she staggered onto her feet—but she saw no horsemen.

Instead, by the faint moonlight, there appeared to be a new, different creature before her.

She stared with an amazed, almost wonderful feeling.

At first it appeared to be a horse, but with strange, wing-like ears. But as it gently trotted forward, she saw, that indeed, it was not completely a horse. It had a scaly mane running down its neck, scaly dragon wings, and a dragon's back half.

Its eyes were very wide also.

But there was no time for words, for sound—

A loud whinny behind them spread commotion, Alexandra losing any sense she had gripped of what was carrying on in the darkness. The two horsemen seemed to be awfully close, and then—

She felt herself being flung into the air—_But how?_

And then, quite strangely, there was something warm, and sleek beneath her.

"HOLD ON!" a very odd, strident voice exclaimed.

_Where did it come from? _

The beast beneath her leapt forward, galloping with a very bumpy gait, forward, to a clearing, and then—

As the trees cleared, another very strange thing happened. The wind was suddenly in her face, flinging her hair behind her. The trees weren't just behind her, but _beneath _her, and the two horsemen?

She was on the back of a flying beast! (It felt extremely odd straddling it while wearing what was practically a dress.) And, what more—?

"All well back there, fledgling?"

The strident voice blared into the cool, fresh air.

Alex bit her lip, then grabbed at the thick mane before her in an attempt to stay on the beast's back.

Looking before her, she saw a tower, strangely familiar, in the distance, looming _very near _to them.

"Uh..." was about all she could say.

But the next thing she knew, with a loud thump and an uncomfortable jolt, she was looking at the _inside _of the pagoda-like tower—

_Luna Serenada!_

With this thought she fell off of her mount.

The wind and loud flapping of rubbery wings no longer in her ears, she could hear the rather amusing, strident voice quite well as it exclaimed;

"Aha! What a fleeing! Quite well. All well. What else to say, fledgling?"

"Ow," Alex said, standing and rubbing her knee. "I mean…"

She was almost used to hearing strange beasts speaking the same language as her.

"Uh—I guess—well—thanks."

"Don't mention it. So what were you doing in Oubonzi? Those soldiers… ahggg, don't want to mess with them. I… was in a gypsy caravan, a display—! Ueerrruurrrrrrgg…"

Alexandra made a face of slight amusement at the weirdness of it all.

"I… I was looking for this place," she said, spreading her hands out in the moonlit tower.

"Ah, how amazing. You don't say? Wonderful. Actually, what _is _this place?" the creature asked.

"_Luna_—Moon Hill," Alex tried.

"Hrrrmmmll," the creature grunted.

Alex looked around in the small, pagoda-like room.

_Aha, stairs, _she thought triumphantly.

At the bottom of the tower Alex stumbled out, the strange beast following her, profusely complaining.

"…Hate stairs. Rotten, lumpy, hard-to-descend stairzzzzzzzzz," the creature grumbled.

She glanced behind her at it, then back up at the crescent moon, then down at the ground beneath her feet and the solid, stone walls around her. To all sides was immense foliage, leafy trees, viny plants, flowering bushes, withering stumps.

She stepped forward, in awe.

"My goodness, amazing, astounding, and… hrrmrgh! So many plants! This… this is a garden, of some sort?" the creature behind her jabbered annoyingly.

Alex kept walking, staring at a white-leaved, twining tree to her left, then a slightly dead, pink-flowered bush to her right.

Suddenly she stopped.

The creature behind her, which had been ambling in follow a little too closely, stepped on her heels.

"Hey—" she hissed, and the paused. "I thought I saw something." In her moment of intensity she suddenly became aware of her Fae, which had been following her through the whole escapade. It had been so quiet she had forgotten it. Now it seemed ready to protect her… but from what?

"Something, someone, or somemrrphrph?" it whispered.

"Shh!" Alex snapped irritatedly, then studied the darkness before her nervously.

"Who's there?"

She had been getting much bolder since this entire expedition had begun.

Something flickered behind the thick foliage of the over-grown garden. A lantern?

The creature, who at first had seemed rather frightened and wary, suddenly leapt in front of Alexandra.

"SHOW YOURSELF, IMPOSTOR!" it shrieked ear-splittingly.

"Ay!" Alex exclaimed, looking down, startled at the increasingly strange creature.

The lantern drifted toward them, still somewhat stifled by the thick trees.

Alexandra strained her eyes to watch it. For a moment it seemed to vanish. She and the creature both tensed, waiting for the light to reappear.

Then, they were both startled as the lantern was unveiled directly in front of them, nearly blinding them.

"Ugh!" Alex said, instinctively shielding her eyes.

"Whathathgh?" The beast grumbled, leaning forward.

There was a moment when Alex's vision was adjusting where she lost track of things.

"Veloxar?" The creature exclaimed, joyfully, it seemed, but Alex did not know why.

There was a commotion, the creature leapt forward, the lantern hit the ground with a clank, almost going out. Alexandra was the first to dive for it, grabbing it and shielding it cautiously in her hand as she lifted it to see the "impostor's" face.

She was stunned, the creature was delighted.

It was the same unspeaking, ghost-like youth from clan-Louz who had given her the note in the hallway.

For the moment the creature was nearly all on top of him, licking his face with a thin, snake-like tongue and chortling to itself about a happy reuniting with someone it loved.

"Get—get over here," Alex managed, pointing to the ground beside her, trying to get the creature's attention.

The young man looked up, and, obviously recognizing her, pushed the creature gently away and stood.

He put a calloused hand into the side of his white blouse and pulled out an envelope, which he extended to her.

She snatched it up and held it beside the lantern. It was in the same scrawled, hardly legible handwriting—this time, though, done a little more painstakingly.

He held out his hand for the lantern, and she, not knowing why, instantly handed it back to him, unsealing the letter, but keeping an eye on him as she did so.

By the dim lantern light and the twinkling illumination from her Fae, she could just read it.

_I waited for you last night, hoping you would arrive, but you did not. Still putting my trust in you, I waited again tonight, ready to write another letter should you not appear again. _

She was surprised at the change of grammar, sentence structure, and the very present tense. It was as though another person had written it.

_In this garden are a thousand seeds, flowers, herbs, trees, and the like. Long ago, I discovered a book written by someone very skilled with herbs, who knew that many of these plants could cure illnesses and relieve pain._

_I was a knight under the King of Akharashafin. When two of the king's advisors found that I had this book, they sought to thieve it from me and present it to the king in hopes that they would be forever in his goodwill. But I wanted it for other reasons. They chased me with devilry, even went after my life. I was forced to flee to the land I had long heard spoken of as "Zamachei", a place of peace. But I did not escape without the two lords first laying a curse on me, making me mostly unable to communicate. I cannot speak. I am only now regaining the full ability to communicate through writing. _

_I did not mean the book to be such a burden, and indeed I had no such high hopes as to be a healer to any—but when I saw your friend, I knew he was not of this world, and I knew how ill he was. My heart has somehow extended to him. _

_Perhaps you will help me find the cure I spoke of earlier. I know it is somewhere in this garden._

_-Veloxar_

Alexandra raised her eyes.

The youth was holding the lantern low, so that the light gleamed dark shadows under his eyelids, lending an eerie cast to his entire face.

How could she believe something so entirely wild and unearthly? _His story is weirder than weird!_ she thought, and yet—Somehow, she _did _believe him. And if he could help Nihl… that would mean that she could go home.

_It was a mistake to go through those pools in the first place! But I've started it, so I ought to—no, I WILL end it, _she thought almost angrily. Taking a deep breath, she folded the letter gently, tucking it into the silken front of her green kimono, and spoke.


End file.
